Ψ
Revista
de Psicologia
ISSN 2179-1740
MANAGERS’ INDIVIDUAL VALUES AND PERFORMANCE
VALORES INDIVIDUAIS E DESEMPENHO DE GERENTES
Antonio Caubi Ribeiro Tupinambá1
Suzete Susana Pitombeira2
Vladson Filgueiras Chaves3
Abstract
The paper presents a study in the field of organizational behavior concerning individual values and self-reported performance of intermediate leaders. Its main objective was to identify priority values, specially the hierarchy of values according to the intermediate leaders' personal priorities and link them to job performance using exploratory and descriptive methodology, through a survey, scaled with questionnaires "SVS individual values" and “self reported performance,” both through Likert scale and deductive logic. It was made a census with leaders in intermediate leadership positions in a medium-sized food industry in the state of Ceará - Brazil. Data were collected electronically and analyzed by SPSS software, using descriptive and factorial statistics. The results pointed to the priority values of motivational types "Benevolence" associated with Compliance. Those with better self-reported performance presented a different result: Benevolence was associated with Self-determination. The overall objective was achieved because the priority values were identified in the intermediate leadership and they were related to professional performance, otherwise checking which values are on top for leaders with better self-reported performance. The study brought new contributions in the area of Organizational Behavior, particularly in what concerns organizational management, the importance of the intermediate leaders in the context of organizational leadership, the understanding of their values, performance, as well as their motivation.
Keywords: individual values, intermediate leadership and self-reported performance.
Resumo
O presente artigo apresenta um estudo no campo do comportamento organizacional sobre valores individuais e desempenho auto-reportado de médias lideranças. O objetivo principal do estudo foi identificar as prioridades axiológicas, nomeadamente a hierarquização dos valores conforme as prioridades pessoais de médias lideranças e relaciona-las ao desempenho profissional se utilizando de metodologia exploratória e descritiva, por meio de um levantamento ou survey, dimensionado com os questionários “SVS de valores individuais” e “Desempenho auto-reportado”, ambos em escala likert e com lógica dedutiva. Foi realizado um censo com os indivíduos que ocupam cargos de médias lideranças em uma indústria de alimentos do estado do Ceará. Os dados foram coletados por meio eletrônico e analisados pelo software SPSS com estatística descritiva e fatorial. Os resultados das prioridades axiológicas apontaram para os tipos motivacionais Benevolência associado com Conformidade, enquanto para aqueles com melhor desempenho auto-reportado a combinação se deu diferente: Benevolência associado com Autodeterminação. O objetivo geral do trabalho foi atingido porque as prioridades axiológicas das médias lideranças foram identificadas e relacionadas ao desempenho profissional, verificando quais os tipos motivacionais estão no topo dos líderes que apresentam melhor desempenho auto-reportado. O trabalho trouxe novas contribuições na área do comportamento organizacional, em especial no que tange à gestão empresarial, à importância das médias lideranças no contexto da liderança organizacional, à compreensão dos seus valores, performance e, consequentemente, motivações.
Palavras-chave: Palavras-chaves: valores individuais, lideranças intermediárias e desempenho auto-reportado.
1 Professor titular do Departamento de Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brasil. Email: tupinamb@ufc.br
2 Professora do Departamento de Administração da FEAAC, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brasil. Email: suzetepitombeira@globo.com
INTRODUCTION
Values are constructs that can be addressed from different perspectives: organizational, work and individual. Values may predict individual behavior and explain the motivation, thus being a focus of interest in studies of organizational behavior, especially in relation to managers and leaders. There are different levels of management in the organization. The focus of our study is in values of intermediary managers, which are in between directors and workers. Their intermediate position in the organization requires a specific leaders’ role. For this reason we denominate these staff members as intermediary leadership, intermediate leader, middle management or middle leadership.
Such a leader will be in another role: that of the intermediary between the power and the group. So these leaders are in the middle: Accountable but with limited power. A key question therefore is, as intermediary, when do you have the authority to act if you feel something needs to be done differently? Similar to what Ellis (2015) says about leader that have volunteers under their responsibility:
This, in turn, raises related questions:
• How much authority do you have? When can you require something from a colleague or, for that matter, from a volunteer assigned to an area of work you do not control?
• How clear are you and the others involved on exactly who does have authority in different situations?
• When must you persuade or suggest, rather than request?
• Who has the final say about how volunteers are treated?”
Leadership translates, in turn, different these largely organizational activities, such as managing teams, processes, activities, search of results, decision-making, or the influence of human behavior. Leadership assumes results or performance.
Performance is approached as a management tool in business. Sometimes it means organizational results, the growth of business and enterprise or individual development.
These are the main issues addressed in the current study that seeks to identify and describe a relationship between them, i.e. between values,
leadership, management and performance through the identification of priority values in leaders or managers and their self-perception of performance. In a second stage it seeks to identify how these priority values relate to better self-reported performance, i.e., the performance as perceived by the approached organizational leaders and managers.
Considering organizational values it is possible to glimpse different paradigms in the organization, once they reflect the behavior and attitudes of managers and employees. Values manifest themselves and predict these movements. They influence the organizational climate and the way decisions are taken, as well as evolve and develop in interaction with internal and external environments. They can support or cause resistance for changes in the organization (Bedani, 2012), so they need to be studied, known, before the implementation of any program that intend to manage such changes (Neiva, & Paz, 2012).
Two models were developed in an attempt to structure the organizational values: the cultural model and the model of personal motivations. The cultural model is based on the premise that every company has its own culture and face various problems such as the need to reconcile individual with collective interests, with pre-established standards and work strategies, besides adjusting their relations with the environment and the society in which it operates in order to survive and maintain its place in the market (Tamayo, 2005).
As for the motivational model, Porto and Tamayo (2005) establish the motivational structure of organizational values into eight types: autonomy, well-being, achievement, dominance, prestige, tradition, ethics and compliance. This model, inspired by what was developed by Schwartz, has three bipolar dimensions: conservatism versus autonomy, hierarchy versus egalitarianism, and mastery versus harmony. The figure 1 represents the relationship between them.
Autonomy: Employee is viewed by the organization as an individual that seeks his own targets. He is independent but with goals that do not affect either organizational culture or norms. He is valued for his creativity and responsibility (Tamayo, 2005).
that involve power and subordination (Tamayo, 2005). Values are part of the organizational culture as well. Culture is here understood and addressed within the organization, which presupposes its relationship and influence on behavior and its relationship to management and leadership. The concept of culture, therefore, is related to the concept of value, which is the main subject of the current research. The subjective aspects of the cultural construct are among the main research interests on culture in social sciences. Among these interests are cultural values the ones to be stressed, once they can function as predictors of human behavior and are correlated with leadership (Torres & Dessen, 2008). The understanding of the organizational culture and its scope can strengthen research on values in entrepreneurial environments. Specially those concerning middle leaders/managers, that are influencing and being influenced by culture, i.e., the organizational culture in which they operate.
On the other hand, the understanding of culture is a way to understand oneself and what is behind the own motivations, as well as the sense of belonging to certain groups or at least if and why one wants or not to join a group (Schein, 2009). The comprehension of organizational culture has to consider its specific national and organizational context (Tupinambá, 1999).
Nascimento and Melo (2010) point out that values are at the center of culture. On the other hand leaders are precursors of change and they are influencing people's behavior through their own actions. Leaders also generate values for individuals and companies, that are guided by their personal values and value priorities, which can be influenced by external environment, organization, group and culture. "Knowledge about leadership is (un) built permanently, with the experience of leaders and their organizations." (Tupinambá, 2012, p. 81). This relationship between culture, values and individuals form a vast field for study and research of value priorities of individuals, organizations, groups and leaders.
The type of intermediary managers’ leadership has been increasingly demanded in today's organizations. In the present researched organization this kind of leadership and management plays a strong role.
The proximity of these leaders with their superiors and the necessary dialogue among them as well as their responsibility to improve the performance of their workers, to their achievement of targets, their distribution and requirement place them in an intermediate focus of attention in enterprises. Otherwise this mediating position requires from them to be strategically prepared for imminent succession, once
they may eventually be required to replace current or older leaders. Their influence on the working team can be a source of better and quicker results. It is a natural managerial challenge to understand, to predict, and to develop the behavior of these leaders, because of their importance for the improvement of their enterprises. Through the study of values you can grab or try to predict the behavior of leaders regarding their suitability for the desired performance and suitability for organizational developmental purposes.
Individual values have been related to business/economic performance, as in Tinoco Assencio, João, & Claro (2010). However, as said by Teixeira and Monteiro (2008) little is known about the relationship between individual values and performance. Priority values related to the performance can open avenues for further research on organizations. The studied company, which is already in stages/cycles of performance evaluation, encourages self-assessment and information for fostering projects that focuses on knowledge of their own members’ values.
It was established the following guiding objectives for the present study:
- Overall goal is to identify the value priorities of intermediary leaders and relate them with professional self-reported performance. This overall goal was dismembered in the following specific objectives:
a) to identify priority individual values of intermediary leaders;
b) to map the self-reported performance of these leaders;
c) to check the value priorities of leaders with better self-reported performance;
d) to compare the group with the best performance with the whole researched group.
The study addresses values in their organizational and job perspectives while reinforcing the research on this construct itself. However, it has focused on the Schwartz’s theory on individual values. The leaders attach personal priorities to these values, i.e. they prioritize certain values. There is though an individual hierarchy of values. These values guide human motivation, i.e., it has a strong influence by these values, which are best placed hierarchically in a so-called “axiological priority” (Schwartz, 2005). Values as chosen for the current study are distributed in ten motivational types: Self-Determination, Compassion, Compliance, Stimulation, Hedonism, Power, Achievement, Safety, Tradition and Universalism (Schwartz, 2005).
performance construct, was based upon Rego (2009). The author sees the form of self-report performance as a possible way of analyzing individual and group performance in organizations from the own employee’s and team’s perception and understanding (Rego, 2009). In the field of study of values it was reported that the individual values related to the motivational types described by Schwartz (2005) can predict behavior. Behavior is precursor of actions and attitudes at work. Consequently, results and performance could be evaluated. In this way it could be checked a possible correlation between self-reported performance evaluation and specific individual priority values.
This is an exploratory-descriptive study, through the application of a survey, with deductive logic. The survey sample is of census type, since the population corresponds to all individuals in positions of intermediary leaders/managers (coordinators and supervisors) in the central administration of the researched food industry. The survey was composed of a simplified scale of Schwartz “Value Survey (SVS),” translated and adapted to the Brazilian reality (Tamayo & Schwartz, 1993) with values that are approached through questions related to the following motivational types: Self-Determination, Stimulation, Hedonism, Achievement, Power, Security, Conformity, Tradition, Benevolence, Universalism (SCHWARTZ, 2005).
The questionnaire has also items to approach leaders/managers’ self-reported performance (Rego, 2009).
Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software with descriptive statistics and factor analysis calculations as well as with validation of questionnaire and variables. They showed results that helped to achieve the objectives of the present study, once these data presented the individual values of both the general intermediary leaders’ sample and of those with better self-reported performance, with assumptions about the relationships among motivational types, values and performance. It points to the possibility of relating values and performance in order to understand leaders’/managers’ behavior as well as to help in its planning and improvement. This proved to be a research and a subject of interest in the field of organizational behavior.
VALUE THEORY AND INDIVIDUAL
VALUES
The Theory of Values by Schwartz is considered one of the leading and most used theory in recent research on values (Abrahim, 2008; Calvosa et al, 2011; Maia, & Oliveira, 2007; Grohmann, Riss, & Silva, 2011;
Fonseca; Porto & Barroso, 2012; Sobral, & Gimba, 2012; Field, 2009; Porto, 2005; Porto, 2008; Tamayo, 2007a; Araujo et al., 2012). It was adapted in Brazil by Alvaro Tamayo. This theory is the result of a linear sequence of researches that were conducted in this area over time, since Allport, Rokeach and Hofstede (Calvosa et al., 2011). Schwartz made a great contribution to identify motivations that express values. This author was though a pioneer in the development of a framework of values based on the motivations behind each of these values. Values differ, once they express different motivations (Tamayo, 2007b).
Personal values were commented by Tamayo (2007b, p. 20) as "[...] motivational goals that express personal targets to be achieved in one’s life, [...] they have a dominant role in the behavior of the workers and in their attitudes and reactions at work." People attach a hierarchical scale to their values and priorize some values over others; the prioritized ones guide human motivation with strong influence of those values, which are best positioned on the axiological priority (Schwartz, 2005; Robbins, 2009; Reis, Antonio, Santos & Marinho, 2009).
The main features of values quoted by Schwartz (2005) are:
Values are beliefs. But they are beliefs tied inextricably to emotion, not objective, cold ideas.
Values are a motivational construct. They refer to the desirable goals people strive to attain.
Values transcend specific actions and situations. They are abstract goals. The abstract nature of values distinguishes them from concepts like norms and attitudes, which usually refer to specific actions, objects, or situations.
Values guide the selection or evaluation of actions, policies, people, and events. That is, values serve as standards or criteria.
Values are ordered by importance relative to one another. People’s values form an ordered system of value priorities that characterize them as individuals. This hierarchical feature of values also distinguishes them from norms and attitudes.
In a research that included data from several countries Schwartz (2005) identified ten motivational types based on human biological, social interaction and survival needs of groups. According to the author (2005, p. 23) the type of goal or motivation that express the value distinguishes one value from another.
1. Self-Direction. Independent thought and action; choosing, creating, exploring.
2. Stimulation. Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life.
3. Hedonism. Pleasure and sensuous gratification for oneself.
4. Achievement. Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards.
5. Power. Social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources.
6. Security. Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self.
7. Conformity. Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms.
8. Tradition. Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide the self.
9. Benevolence. Preserving and enhancing the welfare of those with whom one is in frequent personal contact (the ‘in-group’).
10. Universalism. Understanding,
appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature” (Schwartz, 2005).
Structural aspects of values are added by Schwartz to the ten motivationally distinct basic values as described above:
…namely, the dynamic relations among them. Actions in pursuit of any value have psychological, practical, and social consequences that may conflict or may be congruent with the pursuit of other values. For example, the pursuit of achievement values may conflict with the pursuit of benevolence values - seeking success for self is likely to obstruct actions aimed at enhancing the welfare of others who need one's help. However, the pursuit of achievement values may be compatible with the pursuit of power values - seeking personal success for oneself
is likely to strengthen and to be strengthened by actions aimed at enhancing one's own social position and authority over others. Another example: The pursuit of novelty and change (stimulation values) is likely to undermine preservation of time-honored customs (tradition values). In contrast, the pursuit of tradition values is congruent with the pursuit of conformity values: Both motivate actions of submission to external expectations. (Schwarz, 2014, p. 2).
Schwartz (2005) considers that this way is easier to understand the dynamics of conflict or congruence present in motivational types, once it includes the needs and the fundamental psychological structure in different cultures.
The congruence or conflict between the values is due the fact that some of these values tend to be confronted with antagonistic aspects, or have similar compatible characteristics and complement each other.
For example, a person who prioritizes novelty changes (stimulation value) may conflict with conservation values and tradition, but on the other hand, traditional values relate well to the values of compliance (Schwartz, 2005).
A circular structure proposed by Schwartz (1994, 2005) presents a relationship between perceived motivational types on a continuum according to their proximity in a circle as follows:
a) In the self-promotion area; security and power represent control over the relationships and success in facing adversities; power is connected with the conduct that represents social superiority and esteem; achievement and hedonism are centered on the individual and his satisfaction;
b) In the openness to change area, hedonism and stimulation represent longing for excitement, pleasure and affection; stimulation and self reflecting represent the desire for what is new and domination; self-determination and universalism promote confidence in oneself and the acceptance of diversity;
c) In the area of self-transcendence, universalism and benevolence, unlike the previous, represent others and the promotion of interest in the other, above own interests; benevolence and conformity encourage respect for the rules of more intimate and close relationships;
continuity of society; compliance and security encourage obedience and protection of social order and harmony in personal relationships.
It is worth noting that the motivational types of conformity and tradition are related, in a complementary way, to benevolence and safety according to the proximity both of conformity with benevolence and of tradition with safety.
Calvosa, Serra and Almeida (2011) add that the values can be prioritized according to the axiologic priorities. Tamayo (2005, p. 161) states that "it is not the priority given to a particular value that influences behavior, but the interaction between the multiple interests represented by values".1 Abrahim (2008) found
in a research on career decisions, that individuals with the same career anchor similar attribute values to guide their lives.
Grohmann, Risse e Silva (2011) found that people who chose different careers already have a different hierarchy of personal values. In the matter of careers there were similarities in priorities. In the presente research self-reported performance might show similar priority values for similar performances.
There is also the possibility to predict certain performances, such as in Schwartz (2005, p. 25) "values of achievement (successful, ambitious) emphasize the active demonstration of successful performance in concrete interactions,” a similar hypothesis to this statement is verified in the current study.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Bohlander and Snell (2010) report that the performance can be evaluated by supervisors, peer, teammates, suppliers, customers, subordinates, representatives, and by the employee himself as well as by self-assessment. But Ivancevich (2008) states that organizations do not really believe that self-evaluation can be acceptable and well proceeded once employee cannot evaluate himself objectively but biased because of personal interests. Previous researches have shown that self-assessment compared with the assessment by immediate manager had obtained good correlation. Vandenabeele (2009) used self reported performance measurement to evaluate the relationship between motivation and performance improvement of civil servants.Rego (2009) exploits the self-reported performance as a method, which can replace others methods of performance evaluation depending on the context. The author points its adequacy in those situations in which it is difficulty to apply other kinds of evaluations. The author understands that people tend to evaluate themselves more positively than others do, "[...]
self-evaluations are though less stringent then assessment that is generated by peers or superiors (Rego, 2009, p. 221). However, it is an interesting assumption to be researched, because depending on the culture, education or personality, it is possible that the person is too strict in her own evaluation to apply the real value of the own performance. Rego (2009) believes that if performance evaluation of self-reported type occurs without the need of identification and exposure of participants or of showing/making social comparisons it is possible that individuals are the most faithful as possible and make a faithful evaluation that is also very close to reality.
That can be carried out, logical and rationally. Self-evaluation is not, in fact, something new in the organizational working life of respondents, because as Rego says (2009, p. 221):
(a) people directly experience the effects of their actions in a wide range of real work situations; (b) they observe the judgments others make of their own performance; (c) they have plenty of time to verify the validity of judgments they make about themselves and about their performance.
In the present study performance will be measured by self-reported evaluation as suggested by Rego (2009): The individual judges the quality of his work from his own point of view, i.e., how he perceives his work on levels of quality and effectiveness and how he considers that his immediate manager and coworkers evaluate him.
A challenge would be to check relationships, influences between individual performance and other individual variables such as their values. "[...] The literature in the field of organizational behavior has shown some empirical evidence about the predictive relations between psychological variables and job performance" (Coelho Jr., & Borges-Andrade, 2011, p. 112).
In the field of study of values, it was reported that the individual values related to the motivational types can predict behaviors and these are precursors of action, attitudes at work and, consequently, the results can be properly assessable via self-reported performance.
influenced by values and beliefs of the judges. Values and beliefs allow judging and identifying the behavior that is considered appropriate to the group "(Rocha-Pinto, Pereira, Coutinho & Johann, 2007, p. 79), and they allow also the judgement of own performance.
In an attempt to relate values and self-reported performance, values appear in two different perspectives: the first one in past tense, because primarily organized (axiologic priorities) they direct the individual to a particular behavior, which results in a satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance; and in a second perspective (in the present), when the individual that makes his self-evaluation, is guided by values that can determine what is considered effective or not and productive or nonproductive.
RESULTS
From a total of 146 leaders 86 responded to the survey, representing a sample of 58.9% of the total population. All of the surveyed were leaders in intermediary position which corresponded to a ratio of 44.19% female 55.81% males: 38 females and 48 males, with the following school profile: 6.98% high school, 9,3% incomplete college, 29.07% college and 54.65% postgraduate. These leaders are distributed in the following age intervals: 69% between 30 and 45 years; 18.6% between 21 and 30 years, and only 11.63% 45 years old or more. The majority of the sample is between 30 and 45 years old (60 among 86 of the leaders). Only 8.14% have less than 2 years of working time in the company, 13.95% have between 2-5 years and 29.07% between 5 and 10 years. 48.84%, almost half of the sample has more than 10 years of working time in the company.
In Table 1 there is a distribution of the motivational types and value priorities of the researched population.
In the Picture 1 there is a representation of the results of the motivational types that were presented in Table 1.
These are the main motivational types with values at the top of the axiological hierarchy attributed by the intermediary leaders: Benevolence (mean 5.5) and Compliance (conformism) (mean 5.25). Stimulation (mean 3.32) and power (mean 3.77) were those at the bottom with less influence attributed by respondents.
According to Schwartz (2005), Benevolence has as a defining goal to preserve the welfare of peers. The presence of this motivational type at the top of the hierarchy is due to the concern of the group of leaders with the welfare of the team: "Benevolence and
Compliance together promote cooperative and supportive social relations" (Schwartz, 2005, p 27.), strengthening the concern with workers, emphasizing values that are related to honesty, responsibility, loyalty and helpfulness. The sense of belonging is also highlighted in Benevolence. According to recent climate survey conducted in the researched organization, one of the requirements with high score was “ to be proud to belong to the company,” what reinforces the results of the present study.
Another aspect that was noticed in the axiology of the group is the little tendency to violate rules, procedures, regulations and social norms. This can be seen in the emphasis in scoring high the motivational type of Compliance (conformism). This motivational type also has a sense of preservation of the group because it attempts to inhibit isolated actions of any member that might affect the interaction and the functioning of the whole. According to Schwartz (2005), this motivational type emphasizes values such as being obedient, self-disciplined, being polite and having respect for elders.
If the research results show a combination of Benevolence and Compliance at the top of the hierarchy of values that is expressed by "normative behavior that promotes intimate relationships" (Schwartz, 2005, p.30), it is to assume, that the middle leaders of this company fulfill their corresponding requirements and care about the interaction and wellbeing of their staff.
On the other hand, Power appeared as one of the less chosen motivational types. Though Power, a motivational type linked to prestige and social status, with control and dominion over people (Schwartz, 2005), can be conceived as one of the most important items that suggest a commanding position. In other investigation about axiological priorities it was already showed no prominent place for the same motivational type (Tinoco et al., 2010; Calvosa, Serra, & Almeida, 2011).
Stimulation had a similar score as Power, what can suggest a greater likelihood that the surveyed group does not feel motivated by exciting factors, novelty, variability and daring.
Value priorities of leaders with better
self-reported performance
possible to identify 26 leaders. The separation in these two groups (86 and 26 leaders) made it possible the verification of the value priorities of those who are considered to have a higher performance, as well as of those who are on top of self-reported performance compared to those with lower performance.
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was applied to assess the degree of reliability of the questionnaire (0.965). This index is used to check the internal consistency of questionnaires (Field, 2009). This coefficient takes values between 0 and 1: the closer to 1 the value of the coefficient, the more consistent or reliable the questionnaire. The statistical test of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin or KMO was applied to verify whether the proportion of variance of sample data would be suitable for factor analysis: the closer the score is to 1, the better, and if it is below 0.6 it should be discarded (Latif, 1994). Table 2 shows that the data presented good consistency. Since all KMO results were above 0.6 it was possible to apply the factorial calculations.
After the validation of the questionnaire and of the sample with the best self-reported performance, inferential calculation was applied in SPSS to validate the sample’s responses in relation to value axiological priorities chosen within each motivational type. This verification was necessary to make sure that the values and frequency variations within each motivational type could explain if these values correlated with each other. After the factorial analysis, it was observed the variables that positively correlated within some motivational types, namely, Conformity, Stimulation, Hedonism, Power, Achievement and Tradition.
However, in other motivational types not all variables/values positively correlated, i.e., they had some variables with low correlation or negative correlation.
In Self-determination, for example, only the corresponding variable “freedom” did not positively correlated with the others, though it is related to freedom of action and not invalidating the motivational type. Maybe this is due to the fact that the sample does not has this value as a guiding principle of their behavior, nor was it responsible for triggering actions that led to high performance.
In Benevolence, it was showed that the correlation between values has to do with the seeking of spiritual life, an emphasis on spiritual matters, mature love or deep emotional and spiritual intimacy, true friendship, especially between close friends and supporters, indulgence by being ready to forgive others, and being helpful, and working for the welfare of others. These subjects are supposed to achieve a high performance by involving people around someone,
either by friendship or by concerning factors in promoting their welfare and well being as well through deep spiritual relationship and through the ability to forgive others. In fact and related to this theme, it is important to remark that two religious ceremonies occur annually in the researched organization. Religious artifacts can be seen largely exposed in its dependencies what can be compared to “non reported organizational values” (Schein, 2009).
In Universalism, "inner harmony" or "peace with oneself," were comparatively more strongly correlated. This may reinforce the former type of spirituality in Benevolence: the union or integration with nature, the appreciation of a world of beauty with splendorous nature and the arts, the opening or being tolerant to different ideas and beliefs, and the protection of the environment or desire to preserve nature. As a matter of fact in the researched company, there are art training such as painting, sculpture, crafts, music, photography, etc., what can be related to this artistic appreciation. The question of nature has been often debated in the organization since the implementation of ISO14001 in 20082. These factors may have positively influenced the
respondents.
Regarding Security, the positive correlations occurred between national security, social order and stability of society, sense of belonging, the feeling that others care about oneself, and family protection. Although national security or society themes are not directly related to individual performance, the feeling that others care about someone can influence social behavior such as reported in Benevolence.
CONCLUSION
success and the pursuit of domination of some employees over others.
Within areas of the continuum, Benevolence associated with Compliance appeared to be the stronger motivational type in the sample of respondents, which, if taken together, combine a trend of normative behavior with emphasis on relationships that aim at welfare of coworkers. But among those leaders of the group with better self-reported performance, it was seen a different combination: Benevolence was associated with Self-determination. This association can deal to integration between preserving the welfare of people without necessarily compromising the autonomy, independence and desire for domination.
The overall objective of the presente study was achieved: it was possible to identify value priorities of intermediary leaders and relate them with professional performance. The specific objectives were also achieved: identification of value priorities of the intermediary leaders was held to evidence the Benevolence and Compliance as prior motivational types. However, a remark was made for the value types least likely to be selected by the leaders: Power and Stimulation. This result was surprising because, according to the theoretical framework, these two motivational types are associated with the enhancement of status, domination and challenges, which could be expected to reveal characteristics of individuals occupying management positions. We presume that these results need to further researched and deepened. We suggest to consider for this matter a longitudinal and not only transversal study in different organizations for further comparisons. Otherwise, the introduction of cultural dimensions as moderator factors of these relationships between values and performance can bring new results and though new result combinations could be validated, explained and strengthened.
The self-reported performance of the leaders was also mapped, what made it possible to reach another specific objective of the study: it proved to be adequate and could be related to other studied dimensions and variables. 26 leaders, among the total sample of 86, evaluated themselves with an excellent performance. The objective to verify the relationship between value priorities of leaders with better self-reported performance was also achieved. This showed that they have Compassion and self-Determination present at the top of their value hierarchy. Achievement appeared in seventh place, what was surprising, since, as the theoretical framework showed those motivational types are geared toward personal success, achievement of goals and focus on high performance. If the individual is considered at high performance, we could assume that achievement should be among its first axiological level.
Comparative study with different organizations can evidence and explain this idiosyncrasy and maybe reinforce organizational cultural moderation for this unexpected relation. A question that arises for future researches in this field. Despite the limits of the results, it can be considered that a fundamental contribution to the study of the organizational behavior was done, particularly in relation to business management. Organization can make decisions about training and development of their intermediate leaders based upon these important relations among values, motivation and performance. It appears to be emphasized in the researched population values of conformity, deployment and acceptance of policy, procedures, propagation and conservation of organizational values to be adopted in strategic planning. The values of Benevolence indicate that these intermediary leaders will form their future counterpart (future leaders), with strong motivation to manage people with community sense as well as will be engaged to promote welfare of the working team. It was also stressed the importance of the intermediary leaders: they not only represent the succession of current managers and leaders but are also responsible for the construction of positive relationships between coworkers and superiors. It was possible to have a picture of the leaders’ main motivational types and assumed values shared with their operational coworkers through direct and constant contact. Understanding values, motivation and performance of these leaders is, therefore, favorable to the improvement, maintenance or change of working behavior. The present experience to describe possible relationships of different constructs in an actual organizational situation may be a important step to demonstrate how to improve satisfaction and effectiveness in the organizational context. Through such knowledge plans can be made to support the promotion and development of compatible actions for the improvement of the performance of intermediary leaders and their coworkers.
REFERENCES
ABRAHIM, G. S. (2008). O papel dos valores pessoais nas decisões de carreira. Contextus– revista
contemporânea de economia e gestão, Fortaleza, 6,
(2), pp.35-44, jul./dez.
ARAUJO, B. F. V. B. de; BILSKY, W.; MOREIRA, L. M. C. de O. (2012). Valores pessoais como antecedentes da adaptação transcultural de expatriados. RAM –
Revista de administração Mackenzie, São Paulo, 13,
(3), ed. especial, mai./jun.
organizacionais na percepção de estímulos e barreiras à criatividade no ambiente de trabalho. RAM
– Revista de administração Mackenzie, São Paulo, 13
, (3), ed. especial, mai./jun.
BOHLANDER, G. W.; SNELL, S. (2010). Administração
de recursos humanos. 14. ed. São Paulo: Cengage
Learning.
CALVOSA, M. V. D.; SERRA, F. A. R.; ALMEIDA, M. I. R. de. (2011). Quais são as prioridades axiológicas dos líderes empresariais?Análise dos seus valores pessoais a partir do inventário de valores SVS de Schwartz. III Encontro de gestão de pessoas e relações de trabalho, Anais. João Pessoa/PB, 20 a 22 nov.
COELHO JUNIOR, F. A.; BORGES-ANDRADRE, J. E. (2011). Efeitos de variáveis individuais e contextuais sobre desempenho individual no trabalho. Estudos de
Psicologia, pp.111-120, mai./ago.
ELLIS, S. J. (2015). In the Middle: The Leader of Volunteers as Intermediary. Consulted in abril 2018 from:
https://www.energizeinc.com/hot-topics/2015/august.
FIELD, A. (2009). Descobrindo a estatística usando o
SPSS . 2. ed. Porto Alegre: Artmed.
FONSECA, A. M.; PORTO, J. B.; BARROSO, A. C. (2012). O efeito de valores pessoais nas atitudes perante estilos de liderança. RAM – Revista de
administração Mackenzie, São Paulo, 13, (3), ed.
especial, mai./jun.
GROHMANN, M. Z.; RISS, L. A.; SILVA, A. H. (2011). Valores pessoais e a escolha da carreira profissional: administradores e engenheiros com valores díspares? III Encontro de gestão de pessoas e relações de trabalho, anais. João Pessoa/PB, 20 a 22 nov.
IVANCEVICH, J. M. (2008). Gestão de Recursos
Humanos. São Paulo: McGraw-Hill.
LATIF, S. A. (1994). A análise fatorial auxiliando a resolução de um problema real de pesquisa de marketing. Caderno de pesquisas em administração. São Paulo, 1994, 2º sem.
MAIA, L. de F. R. B. ; OLIVEIRA, J. D. de. (2007). Valores Organizacionais e seus impactos sobre o clima e a satisfação no trabalho: Percepção dos técnico-administrativos de uma instituição federal de
ensino superior. I Encontro de gestão de pessoas e relações de trabalho, anais. Natal/RN, 13 a 15 jun.
NASCIMENTO, K. M.;MELO, R. M. N. de. (2010). O papel da liderança na criação de valor. In: MIGUELES, C.; ZANINI, M.T. (Orgs.). Liderança
baseada em valores. Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier.
NEIVA, E. R.; PAZ, M. G. T. (2012). Percepção de mudança individual e organizacional: o papel das atitudes, dos valores, do poder e da capacidade organizacional. Revista de Administração, São Paulo,
47, (1), p. 22-37, jan./fev./mar.
PORTO, J. B. (2005). Mensuração de valores no Brasil. In: TAMAYO, A. e PORTO, J. B. Valores e
comportamentos nas organizações. Petrópolis, RJ:
Vozes.
PORTO, J. B. (2008). Valores do trabalho e seu impacto sobre atitudes e comportamento no trabalho. In: TEIXEIRA, M. L. M. (Org). Valores humanos e gestão:
novas perspectivas. São Paulo: Senac.
PORTO, J. B. ; TAMAYO, A. (2005). Valores do trabalho. In: SIQUEIRA, M. M. M. Medidas do
comportamento organizacional: ferramentas de
diagnóstico e de gestão. Porto Alegre: Bookman.
REGO, A. (2009). Empregados felizes são mais produtivos? Revista de estudos politécnicos, VII, (12), pp. 215-233.
REIS, G. G.; ANTONIO, F. A. A.; SANTOS, A. L. dos; MARINHO, B. de L. (2009). Os valores dos administradores de empresas mudam ao longo da carreira? Relações entre prioridades axiológicas e tempo de formando. II Encontro de gestão de pessoas e relações de trabalho, anais. Curitiba/PR, 15 a 17 nov.
ROBBINS, S. P. (2009). Fundamentos do
comportamento organizacional. 8. ed. São Paulo:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
ROCHA-PINTO, S. R.da; PEREIRA, C. de S.; COUTINHO, M. T.C. ; JOHANN, S. L. (2007).
Dimensões funcionais da gestão de pessoas. 9 ed.
Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.
SCHEIN, E. H. (2009). Cultura organizacional e
liderança. São Paulo: Atlas.
Overview. Recovered in 09/19/2014 from http://segr-did2.fmag.unict.it/Allegati/convegno 7-8-10-05/Schwartzpaper.pdf
SCHWARTZ, S. H. (2005).Valores humanos básicos: seu contexto e estrutura intercultural. In: TAMAYO, A. e PORTO, J. B. Valores e comportamentos nas
organizações. Petropolis, RJ: Vozes.
SCHWARTZ, S.H. (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal
of social issues. 50, (4), pp.19-45.
SOBRAL, F. J. B. de A.; GIMBA, R.de F. (2012). As prioridades axiológicas do lidera autêntico: um estudo sobre valores e liderança. RAM – Revista de
administração Mackenzie, São Paulo, 13, (3), ed.
especial, mai./jun.
TAMAYO, A. (2007a). Hierarquia de valores transculturais brasileiros. Psicologia: Teoria e
Pesquisa, Brasília, 23 número especial, pp. 7-15.
TAMAYO, A. (2007b). Contribuição ao estudo dos valores pessoais, laborais e organizacionais.
Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, Brasília, 23 número
especial, pp. 17-24.
TAMAYO, A. (2005). Valores organizacionais. In: SIQUEIRA, M. M. M. Medidas do comportamento
organizacional. Porto Alegre: Artmed.
TAMAYO, A.; SCHWARTZ, S. H. (1993). Estrutura motivacional dos valores. Psicologia: Teoria e
pesquisa, 9, pp. 329-348.
TEIXEIRA, M. L. M.; MONTEIRO, R. S. (2008). Valores pessoais no ambiente de negócios. In: Valores
humanos e gestão: novas perspectivas. São Paulo:
Senac.
TINOCO, J. E. P.; ASSENCIO, E. W.; JOÃO, B. N.; CLARO, J. A. C. S. (2010). Influência dos valores individuais no desempenho empresarial: um estudo usando o inventário de valores de Schwartz. XIII SEMEAD – Seminários em Administração, Anais. Set.
TORRES, C. V.; DESSEN, M. A. (2008). Valores culturais e a cultura brasileira: desdobramentos teóricos. In: TEIXEIRA, M. L. M. Valores humanos e
gestão: novas perspectivas. São Paulo: Senac.
TUPINAMBÁ, A. C. R. (1999). Der Zusammenhang von
Persönlichkeitseigenschaften, Strategien und Erfolg
bei Kleinunternehmern: EineVergleichsstudie
zwischen Brasilien und Deutschland. Hamburg: Dr. Kovac.
TUPINAMBÁ, A. C. R. (2012). Empreendedorismo e liderança: perspectivas e desafios atuais. Revista
Psicologia: Organizações e Trabalho, Santa Catarina,
12, (1), p. 73-84, jan./abr.
Vandenabeele, W. (2009). The mediating effect of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on self-reported performance: more robust evidence of the PSM—performance relationship.International
Review of Administrative Sciences.Brussels/Belgium,
75 (1), pp. 11-34, march.
Lista de Anexos
Picture 1 - Labor Values - Source: Adapted from Porto and Tamayo (2005)
Picture 1 - Labor Values - Source: Adapted from Porto and Tamayo (2005)
Picture 2 - Diagram of the motivational types net - Source: elaborated by the authors based upon the continuum of Schwartz (2005).
Notes
1 All quotations from the originals in Portuguese are free translations by the
authors.
2 ISO 14001 ia an international certification that recognizes companies that invest
in the preservation of nature and its resources.
RECEBIDO EM: 04/12/2017
PRIMEIRA DECISÃO EDITORIAL: 25/03/2018 VERSÃO FINAL: 25/05/2018
